The Girl's A Straight-Up Hustler
by just-add-a-dash-of-savvy
Summary: You've heard of bad boy meets good girl, but what happens when the coin is flipped around and the bad girl meets good boy? When Jason meets Piper Mclean, Jason immediately knows she's trouble. She gets what she wants and she breaks what she gets, she's a player, she's everything he isn't. He lives by the rules, she did everything against it. But can he change the way she is? AU
1. Lost In Stereo

**I AM INSANE.**

**I have 2 fanfiction accounts, both of which have stories I am yet to update. Also, _Desire _is yet to be edited and fixed meanwhile I'm studying for my final end-of-year tests (I'm not American. I abide through the south's way of doing things).**

**And I'm writing a book. **

**YEAH.**

**The rating might change to M, because I was kinda shifty since the content is borderline M, but not graphic so...I'll put it on T momentarily, but if you guys think I need to change it, don't be afraid to voice it aloud. **

**Anyway, I got this idea from Wattpad (beautiful thing) and reading some badboy!Jason fics. I've noticed how Piper is _never _the 'bad one' always the 'Good Girl' so I flipped the switch around and tada! I don't know if it had been done before, but yeah, this fic contains bad girl Piper...and nerdy, kind of innocent ''goody" Jason (who's so adorkable to write about). **

**But I'm TESTING the waters. I haven't written the other chapters, but if this received a good reception I'll consider making it a full-length story.**

**Another reason for my mental anxiety...**

**Don't own anything!**

Chapter 1

Lost In Stereo

_Jason_

The Wilderness School was where all bad kids go to hell. And that was where I was heading, where Dad was sending me and where my sister's delinquent acts resulted in.

Now you might ask _Jason why are you going there?_ Good question. I have no fucking clue. Okay, I _did_ have a clue, but it was because _now_ I was starting to realize how this was probably one of my worst all my infamously however appallingly made decisions _ever. _And that itself takes the cake.

Staring at the imposing steel structure, it was the only form of civilization within the next forty miles of pure desert. This bus ride was pure proof that I would never survived in the Wilderness:

A) it's too fucking hot

B) I can't feel my legs

C) refer to A and B

My lips were chapped from the heat, no matter how much water I already drank, my glasses kept slipping down the slope of my sweaty nose and my shirt was stuck to my back like Scotchtape, slicked with sweat. _Gross. _

"Can you, um, turn up the AC?" I asked the driver, a stout man with mean eyes and a burly moustache. His entire weight made the leather seat sag in suffering. I'm so glad I'm not the chair.

"I don't take orders from kids in handcuffs," barked the driver and I slumped, defeated, tugging at the tight metal pressed around my wrist. The handcuffs bounded me to the hand railing of the bus, restricting me from taking a leak, or even standing up. As if that wasn't even enough justice for the laws of the United States, one lone guard was sleeping at the front seat with a rifle perched on his lap.

I'm _sixteen_, for Christ sake, it's not like I'm going to blow up the World Trade Centre.

Insensitive joke? Jeez, _take it easy_. Nine eleven was like a decade ago, it was time we start to laugh about it. I bit at the rough edges of my lip, causing blood to seep into my tongue. I glanced at the nearly empty water bottle at the seat next to me and unscrewed the cap, gulping the water, hoping it satisfied my thirst.

Not even a little bit.

Sighing, I leaned into my seat, remembering how I landed here in the first place.

It all started with some boys in my old private school. You see, it was an all boys school so there was bound to be trouble. Though it was private, they did all the wild things. Streaking through the fields, wild parties, smoking, drugs, all that shit, I never found myself sucked into _that _world. And I am usually not the troubled type, I did my best to avoid trouble because personally, my father would've slapped me from New York all the way to Greece if I ever did anything to potentially harm my image, or rather,_ his_ image. Because God Forbid, _another _Grace kid became a drug addict and a wannabe Lindsay Lohan.

Anyway, it was the end of the semester and everybody was in a party mood, typically. The exams were over, school was finishing- parties were part of the alma mater. But the thing is, I _hate_ parties. Never liked them before, didn't like them now. They're loud with obnoxious music and people 'so-called' dancing, twerking or whatever passed for it, filled with people slobbering and slurring and spilling their drinks 'accidentally' over your crotch (let's just say it was a hands-on experience), people passionately and shamelessly groping each other and possibly raping one another in front of my virgin eyes. Uh yeah, pass. I prefer to be mentally _sane. _I think I'll be fine in my room, cuddle up with a good autobiography of John Kennedy, and some Blink-182 playing in the background. But my roommate, Larry Podex, had insisted that I _'needed to get drunk and get laid_' and I had argued I was fine, and _um no thanks I don't want to get drunk, or laid by some chick I don't know_. Because I'm a value sort of guy. This was how the conversation went:

Larry: Jason, it'll be fun! Vodka,_ babes in shorts_, great music, and did I mention babes in shorts?

Me Yes, I heard you the first time. But it's not my thing, I told you, I rather just stay here and-

Larry: Masturbate in your pathetic abyss of loneliness? Sure, sounds like fun.

Me: I do not masturbate!

Larry: Bull-fucking-shit. I do it, you do it, everybody does it. Hell, I was jacking it last night.

Me: Last night?! I was in the fucking room! What do you mean-

Larry: The point is you're coming and I don't care if I have to carry you there with me.

Me: urghhhhhh

So yeah, I went anyways.

It wasn't _that_ bad, it was more of a nauseating, grotesque, hangover the next morning, regrets and _never again _kind of bad. Larry skived off to challenge his biggest rivals to naked beer pong (and that was a sight I'll never unsee ever again), I sulked into a corner, cradling my alcohol-free coke, willing to avoid anybody and everybody until some of the guys offered me a shot. I was too polite to decline, so I shrugged and took it. I mean, it was just _one_ shot of tequila, how drunk could I possibly get?

Yeah, you can probably guess what happened next.

The answer is that _yes_ I can get really really drunk and _yes, _I have no self-control whatsoever. I practically chugged down fifteen shots, pranced around like some asshole and was practically cavorting like a beast in repose. At some scale of the night, I ended up with a girl who was from the boarding school for girls just down the road. I think her name was Khione or whatever, and she offered me a joint. I should've said no, I really should've, but in my stupid however drunken state, I was like_ fuck it why not_ and smoke the weed as if there was no tomorrow. Pro-tip: Drunk Jason was not the smartest Jason, however, the most fun Jason.

Long story short, the police came, arrested everybody and caught me in the act with a staggering amount of marijuana and narcotics pumped in my system. Because I was underage and it was my first time, they let me off on probation. My dad, however, wasn't too chummy about it. He was shouting, well bottom line there was a lot of shouting, words like _disgrace to the family name_ and _if you were going do it, doing it discreetly_ was thrown in the mix, and for a form of punishment, my dad had creatively ended with the Wilderness School for it. Somehow he came up with the intelligent idea that if it worked for my sister, it worked for me.

It was just _one _joint of marijuana. And it wasn't even decent! And this was the _first _time!

But, despite my futile and completely _valid _arguments, it was final and now I'm here.

Just puts a fucking cherry on top of my day.

Pushing the crooked glasses up against my nose, I craned my head to take a look outside the window and felt my heart leap. There it is! I almost leap out into the bus aisle in excitement when the handcuffs pulled me back into my seat.

_Ouch._

* * *

><p>I rubbed my wrists after being handcuffed to a pole for two miserable hours, then dragged my suitcase into the dorm 246, the one I've been assigned to, and dumped it on an unoccupied bed. I prayed for air-conditioning, <em>decent<em> air conditioning, not some stupid Chinese knock off that blows air at a set temperature. The dorm was okay, nothing fancy. It looked more like a hospital room than a school dorm, with plain vinyl mattresses on two separate unpolished wooden bunks, two desks at each side of the room, white-coated walls and fluorescent lights. A drastic change from Legion Academy for Boys.

Running a hand through my sweat-dripped hair, I looked around for a shower, or a sink where I could splash some water on my face when a boy with wild, curly hair and dark eyes burst into my room. He was hauling a black and blue duffel bag through the doorway when I managed to sneak a better look at him. He stood at five foot eight, really short, barely at my shoulder, with a slim built and elfish ears. He lifted the duffel bag over his shoulder and threw it up onto the left bed, the one where I've put all my things, and it landed with a soft_ thump!_

"Move your shit, asshole."

"Excuse me?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yo, English much or do I have to say it in Spanish?"

"No, I understood," I said firmly, "I just didn't think you had the right to do that."

He raised an eyebrow. Yeah, I might be a bit quiet, and I'm certainly not the type that picks fights, but I ain't no pushover. "Look, newbie, I'm Leo Valdez and it's been proclaimed throughout the school that the left bunk is always my bunk. So, in short, move your_ fucking shit_."

"You could've just asked nicely-"

"It's the Wilderness School," he snorted, "Nobody actually do 'nice'. That's the first unofficial rule of the school."

"Bullshit."

"Well, _duh,_" he pointed out, "I specifically said unofficial or are you deaf as well stupid?"

I placed my fingers on my temples. "Circles. We're talking circles."

"No," he said sarcastically, "I thought we're discussing squares."

I could've possibly killed him in frustration. Breathing in and out, I told him like it was: "You're annoying."

Surprisingly, Leo's face split into a mischievous smile. "I think we haven't formally met. Leo Valdez, annoyingness at your service."

I laughed and nodded (that was cool, right? the nod?). "Jason Grace."

"Where you from?"

"San Francisco."

"The heat there is nothing compared here, huh?" he laughed as I profusely fanned my face.

"Yeah, is there an AC somewhere...?"

He held out a remote control and switched it on. Instantly, the room was moderately cooler, but only moderately.

"So what'd you do to end up in this hellhole?"

"Um," I scratched my head, "Got caught smoking marijuana."

He shook his head, a crooked very _Leo_ smile curling at his lips. "Amateur."

"It was my first time!" I protested, feeling defensive, strangely about this provocative subject such as smoking marijuana.

"Like I said, amateur."

"Anyway, my dad was being a pain in the neck all about it, so he saw this as a fitting punishment. Also, my sister is here….so…" I shrugged, leaving him to draw his own conclusions.

"Wait, a sister?"

"Yeah, Thalia. Thalia Grace."

His face lit up in recognition. "Hey, I knows Thals! You're her little brother?"

I nodded immediately, "Yep, that's me."

"Heh, cool. What a small fuckin' world."

He told me about how it was his fourth year in the Wilderness School and how his Aunt Rosa had sent him away to the Wilderness School because she didn't want to deal with him, how _nobody _wanted to deal with him. I tried not to feel sorry for him since he seemed like he didn't want any sympathy but I can't help but feel bad as he explained to me how his father left and his mother died in a freak fire accident, while I was entitled to an abundance of money and Leo obviously didn't have much. Despite the rudeness and blunt behaviour, Leo was actually alright. A tad corny, and I could do without the 'That's what she said' jokes but he was definitely fine.

Soon, at the rear end of our conversation, a bell clang, signalling the starting of an event. "Yes!" Leo jumped to his feet, "Time for Lunch!"

"Lunch?"

"Yeah, lunch. You know, the meal you eat…"

"I know what Lunch is."

"Good. Thought for a moment you might be dumber than Percy," Leo rubbed his hands together and his stomach growled in anticipation of food. My stomach rumbled at the thought of Lunch too. "Anyway, follow me. I'll let you meet the others."

_The others?_ My head spun. It was not that I never had friends, it's just that I never had close friends. Many of whom I knew were acquaintances where we share brief polite Hellos, never fist-bumps or anything remotely similar. Maybe here would be different, maybe I'll earn some friends, even possibly a girlfriend. Oh who was I kidding? This was the Wilderness School. I would be lucky if I could scrape through the week without being beat up by some bipolar underage delinquent.

Together, we made our ways to the Dining Hall. The Dining Hall was exactly like I had predicted: rowdy, brimming with chatter, sickeningly full of students doing what they normally do: chatting, flirting, laughing, et cetera; it was the home base of the student life.

Leo led me through the plethora of cliques. _Hell,_ even the Wilderness School have a population pyramid, jocks, cheerleaders and all that good ole' teenager capitalism. He high-fived some people along the way, laughing at their inside jokes while I stood behind him, awkward and alienated from the whole ordeal. Sometimes, he introduced me and they shook my hand, saying it's nice to meet me and general stuff, but that was all the excitement and jazz that happened on the way over.

Finally, we halted at a table where a familiar face occupied one of the seats…

"Jason!"

A sixteen year old girl emerged from her seat. "Thalia!" I felt a spark of excitement as she approached me and enveloped me into a bear hug. Several people glanced up to see the sudden commotion and display of affection, but I didn't care as I hugged the sister I haven't seen in two years.

"Dad told me you were coming," her blue eyes scanned me over, scrutinising my sweat-soaked t-shirt and messy blond hair, which was out of it's usual perfect style. "Smoking marijuana, Jason? _Seriously_?"

I braced myself for the lecture.

"...How_ cliche_!"

Okay, not _that_ lecture.

"You do it too!" I stared accusingly at her.

"Yeah," she conceded, "but I was never stupid enough to get caught," she smacked me playfully on the arm and pulled out a seat for me. "Anyway, I'm being rude. Jason, meet the gang. Gang meet my baby brother, Jason."

"I'm not a baby," I whinged.

Everybody slowly introduced themselves to me, but it was a lot to take in. There was Percy Jackson, a boy with sea green eyes and a wave of dark hair, who was the boyfriend of Thalia's best friend, Annabeth, a pretty Californian blonde with intimidating grey eyes that didn't quite fit the whole 'All-American-Girl' theme going on. The next few was Hazel, who was a year younger than the rest, and she was the girlfriend of Frank, a muscular guy who looked like he could be a potential wrestler on WWE. Hazel got a brother, Nico, who was Percy's roommate. All the couples and sibling relationships had me cross-eyed as I tried to remember who was who.

"Welcome to the Wilderness, man," said Percy as he smiled at me, while wolfing down his cheeseburger with extra-oily fries. "Where another new kind of Hell starts."

Suddenly, someone- Nico, I think- had muttered something that caught my attention and caused everybody's heads to whirl around:

"Great, here she comes."

One of the most beautiful girls I've _ever_ seen was walking towards the table, towards _me_. Her long mahogany hair swished and swung behind her, her lips were pouty and red, her eyes were green...no, blue, wait...brown...were they _multicoloured?_ Her skin was cocoa brown, so smooth and milky I had the sudden temptation to lick it. She wore ripped jeans, a denim jacket over a black top and exuded a demeanour that just screamed_ trouble_.

A cluster of pretty girls followed behind her, waiting on her every heel, but they weren't as pretty as she was. She swaggered over and flashed a coy smile at every boy observing her.. Then she zeroed in on their table, her eyes hinted mischief. "Anybody need a hit?" she asked, her voice so full of teasing joy. She revealed a packet of weed hidden underneath a jacket.

"A pound would be nice," Thalia spoke up.

A flash of silver appeared underneath the line of white teeth. A tongue piercing? I gawked at her. Who _was_ she?

"That'd be ten."

Thalia paid the ten dollars and the mystery girl cautiously slipped the packet underneath the table. She slid the cash into her pockets, playing it off as flippant. Then her eyes landed on me.

"Saw you staring at me," she chided playfully, "Didn't Daddy told you it's rude to stare?"

"Um-I-" floundering like a fish out of water, I could barely find a retort I was usually well-armed with. I mean, I'm _always _punctual,_ always_ eloquent but in the eyes of this chick, the way she was staring me down, like I was a butterfly she wanted to trap, my mouth turned jelly and my body felt like it was zapped. Don't you see why I have a pathological fear for women?

"Naughty boy," she tutted, her eyes changed dangerously into a colour of sky blue, mirroring mine. Her pierced tongue licked her bottom lip, she prodded a finger at my chest like a teacher scolding a child. "Do I need to spank you?"

_What did she just say?! _

Never had I seen a girl so upfront, so confident, and it caught me so off-guard that I blushed, my cheeks heating up. I found the best response I could: "Um-I'm-uh _sorry_?"

She laughed and her friends joined in, howling like a pack of piranhas while I blushed even harder, wanting nothing more than to melt into the background. "_Aw_," she cooed, throwing her head back, exposing a long neck I wanted to wrap my hands around. "You're_ blushing_! Girls, he's blushing!" she cawed at her friends, whose raucous laughter reduced to appalling giggles, "God, you're so adorable," her eyes flickered to my glasses and she inched even closer towards me. She pushed it up, languidly sliding up my nose, smirking as she did so. I gulped, trying to conceal my crotch. Her smirk, if possible, widened.

"How come I never seen you before?"

"He's new," barked Thalia, putting a protective hand over my shoulder. "Fuck off, Piper. We bought your weed already."

Her eyes flashed in annoyance. "Your boyfriend, Grace?" Her tone creeped a hint of danger, like she wouldn't even hesitate on stealing anybody's boyfriend.

"I'm her brother," I intervened.

"_Oh, _your brother, Thalia?" Piper- the girl- smirked again. "Interesting," she gave me an once over, practically shamelessly undressing me with her eyes. "I'm Piper. You?"

"Um, uh, I'm-I'm Jason."

"Hmm, Jason," the name rolled off her silver-pierced tongue softly. She tilted her head sidewards seductively, her hair following suit. "Hope I'll see you around."

Knowing she had turned me tomato red, she turned away, stalking off with her clan, much to Thalia's relief. Her hips swayed and sashayed as she left the room, boys watched her while she go, envying the fact that she talked to_ me,_ nerdy glasses Jason, out of all people.

"So," I said shakily to Leo, "Who's that?"

"Piper Mclean," Leo said dreamily, gaze lingering on where she had stood. "She's one hell of a bad bitch."

Thalia snorted, giving me a concerned look. "I'm a bad bitch. She's a whole other kind of bad. Don't be fooled, Jason, she's the type who sucks a boy dry-"

Leo snickered.

"Get your mind out of the gutter."

"But how can you _not _find that dirty?" guffawed Leo, Percy howling as Annabeth hit him and lectured him. "Sucking him dry...sure Jase would love that."

Hazel, a more conservative person than most, was scandalized: "Guys!"

My face was pretty much a beetroot puce kind of colour. "Can you just..._not_?"

Thalia rubbed her forehead, shaking her head at the current display of idiocy her friends displayed. "My point being is that she will make you fall head over heels for her and dump you the next day, breaking your heart. Not to mention, she gets whatever she wants, even if it's taken. Just stay away from her...she'll just hurt you, and I don't want to see you hurt."

I nodded, looking at the door where Piper Mclean had entered and exited, my heart nailed to the wall that she had hammered onto. How positively fucked am I?

* * *

><p><strong>Done. I did this in a mere six hours, WHILE STUDYING AND WHILE WRITING DESIRE AND MY NOVEL.<strong>

**Remember to review! And tell me whatcha thinking.  
><strong>


	2. How to be a Heartbreaker

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**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to RR.**

Chapter 2

How To Be A Heartbreaker

_Piper_

"That Jason boy was _so_ cute," tittered Lacy loudly as she sprayed herself with perfume, dousing the entire infrastructure of the dorm room with Chanel No.9, a perfume famous for it's distinct medicinal scent. I tried not to gag as she spritz some on her neck, her back, her face. "Got a new target on your dartboard, Pipes?"

"Maybe," I said mysteriously and the rest of my friends, the Aphrodite crew, exchanged smirks while I tousled my hair into waves. "I mean, he's cute and all, but he's such a good, little boy…"

"As if that will stop you," Kayla snorted, one of the girls who were sitting on the floor of my dorm while filing her nails.

A feral smile crossed my lips and I swiped the red tube over the bottom lip, rubbing it together once I was done. I flashed her Kayla a knowing beam, "True."

Looking at my reflection, I tucked in my dark choppy hair behind my ears and re-applied the liner with expertise, careful with the extra flick at the end of my eyes. Behind my back, the girls of my social ladder were gossiping, chatting, giggling, flipping their hair, rolling their eyes; basically enhancing any part of their social reputation. They're known as the Aphrodite Girls and they were all pretty and beautiful, infallibly rich, infamous for wreaking havoc amongst the department of romance. Everyone looked at me like the Leader and it wasn't something I had solely dictated and claimed, they just gave me an once-over and decided _yeah okay, she's the top bitch_ now. And I've always just rolled with it.

The Aphrodite Girls weren't your typical Mean Girls Plastics-cloned clique. You forgot that the Wilderness School was an alma mater for troubled kids. These were red-lipped high-heeled stilettos women with an edge, they don't care who they have to tread on to claw their way to the top- something I prided myself in and was very good at.

Don't get me wrong, I love Lacy and I love my girls but none of them, not one, have an ounce of loyalty. They would not hesitate me to gouge my eyes out with a heel if it meant taking my spot in this school, and those circumstances led to several rules I've made abundantly clear with a vitalizing lucidity.

_One step and die, bitch._

They got the message after that and never one had stepped out of line. Well except, Drew but she was old news and she should've known better. Suddenly, my cell phone rang, vibrating on the surface of my drawer. _Tristan Mclean,_ the display read and my stomach clenched. Great. The usual check-up was here.

"Leave," I barked at the girls behind me, gritting my teeth, "Now."

They nodded, obedient and docile, scampering out the door. Slamming the door behind me, everybody, even Lacy who knew better to be in the same room with me when I was on the phone with my father.

Ignoring the temptation to ignore the call, I slid over the lock button and pressed it over my ear.

"Yes?" I snapped.

"Piper," my dad's calming tone soothed over the intercom. "How's your first day?"

"It was fine," I said promptly, placing my hands on my hips. Irritation evident in my tone, everything else was indecipherable. "You don't have to check up on me every five minutes."

"Piper, I have to. You've been spiraling out of control with the thefts-"

"Whatever," I interrupted him rudely, "I don't want to hear it."

I hung up, setting the phone down onto the table, breathing hard. I scraped my fingers through my uncombed hair, then sat on the edge of my bed. Maybe why I had manage to maintain my status as the top was because of my street smarts, I've always been on my own- and being on your own tend to force you to wake up in the real world and forge your own path.

But you've heard the name Tristan Mclean, so _yeah. _That's my dad. Cue screaming fan girls and requests for signed photos. Yeah, first of all: fuck off. Second: he's my dad. Third: ew.

He had never cared before, not once. I mean, he used to, before he gotten a break in Hollywood and sky-rocketed to stardom. He used to sing me to sleep, read me stories, spent time with me but ever since that particular callback, he was barely available, often occupied with an interview or a shoot.

Without the time to deal with me, he shipped me off to those private schools while he prance around Hollywood with his celebrity status and a new blonde bimbo who was young enough to be my sister around his arm. He was never apparent at any holidays, no Christmas. Hell, he bailed on my twelfth birthday because he had an hour slot with Good Morning, America.

I was lonely for a long time...no friends, no dad, no mom, no family. I replaced them with much better things, like sex, drugs, boys. Sex was good, don't get me wrong, sex was always good, but they always led to relationships, which leads to complications and messy heartbreaks. It was better- from experience- to avoid it, at whatever costs.

Things escalated when I turned 14, hanging around with the 'bad' crowd, boozing, cutting my hair off, getting an illegal tattoo and my first piercing. I had a boyfriend, Dylan, he was good...to me, I guess. We were inseparable and he opened my eyes to a new world. I lost my virginity towards him. And I didn't regret it. We were dating for four months, but then he cheated on me with some other chick from college. I sure showed them not to piss me off again, with a flammable gas of hair spray and a lighter.

Back to my dad, of course. So with all that naughty misdeeds on my track records, my dad was desperate to 'straighten me out'...whatever that meant. He couldn't handle me when it reached the proximity of me stealing cars, drunk driving and arrested…._on occasions_.

With no other options left, he sent me here. Since he clearly cared so much about me, I decided to return the favour. I just don't care anymore. About anything or anyone. J_ust another misbehaved teenager with daddy issues and too much access to a fake ID_, my reflection snarked. I mean, it's not like I am totally unaware of what everybody says. Judgemental phrases you would toss around your friends, bitchy comments about a girl who flirted with your crush- yeah, I know you would do that. Everybody needs something to critisize- don't deny it. It's human nature to _bitch. _And I'm entirely aware of people labeling me behind my back after I gave them their weed: _whore, slut, trainwreck _- because they can't find anything else better to talk about.

Growing claustrophobic at the silence, I needed a walk, something to clear my thoughts. I exited my dorm, my boots dragging along the familiar corridors of Wilderness School. It was still Orientation- the very first weekend when everybody settled in to their dorms, unpacked their things, mingled with new friends and the such. I ignored everybody until I saw Jason, the new boy, looking quite lost at the sandy courtyard.

I had to agree with Lacy. Even from this distance, the new kid was extremely cute. He had the whole 'awkward turtle' tied down to a T. His ruffled blond hair was unruly, sticking out from various places, his glasses were dorky- admittedly- but they made him look, if possible, cuter. His features were regal, like an European aristocrat and his eyes were cerulean, with swirls of icy sky blue, hypnotizing me when I was staring him down at the cafeteria. It took all of my willpower not to drag him from his chair into a broom closet and do questionably questionable things to him.

Smiling wickedly and licking my lips, I approached him.

"Hey sexy," I greeted amiably and he spun around, books nearly falling out of his hands when he saw me sauntering towards him.

"Um- uh, hey," he stumbled upon his words. Nervous, his gaze darted from my face to my tightly-hugged chest, with just enough cleavage showing, to my legs in shorts. And just to twist a bit more on his nerves, I laid a hand on his shoulder, a caustic gleam in my eyes and he was trying to not let those books topple over his arms again. _God_, boys were so easy.

"How's your first day?"

"Well- it's going swell. I mean," he corrected himself, "it's not over yet."

"I see," I released my gentle grip on his shoulder abruptly. Then suggestively, I added: "Anything I can do to make it better?"

"What?" he gawked and I laughed, putting a hand over my mouth at his priceless expression.

"Just joking, just joking," I winked, wagging my finger back and forth. "Or maybe not…"

"Well, I don't think I…" he trailed off.

"We should?" I finished for him in the barest trace of a whisper. "Why? Scared Big Sister will punish for being a bad bad boy?"

He gulped and I relished at the moment of having him under my thumb, seeing him anxious produced a kick of addiction I never sensed before. I don't know why, but good boys were always my favourite kind of candy. Bad boys were so predictable, they wanted you and then they don't- once they're done with you, the matter's settled. But good boys...seeing them being bad was like having the first whiff of a joint. It felt like an adrenaline rush. It gave me immense pleasure to watch them break into pieces and somehow, I knew I wanted to hurt Jason, more than any other boy. Maybe it was because he looked so innocent, with his angelic hair and angelic blue eyes, he was _so_...clean and having that level of perfection shatter was just art.

In fact, I never searched for reasons of why breaking hearts was such an activity for the Aphrodite Girls. I myself knew how painful it was to be heartbroken, but it never stopped me.

"Anyway," I went on, enjoying him sweating under my gaze, "I want you to follow me."

"W-where?"

I made a 'come-hither' sign with my index finger, taking the lead towards the exit. "Why don't you come find out?"

The Wilderness School was a campus of several, low-ceiling blocks spread throughout the least hottest part of the desert. Over on the right were where all the dorms were situated and on the left was the actual school facilities, classrooms and whatnot. In the middle was the plain, sandy courtyard where the students hung around but that wasn't where I wanted to go. The Courtyard busied itself with students engaging themselves with others, several of them occasionally greeted me as I walked past, but most of them (the guys and some girls) ogled shamelessly and whispered immodestly while I ushered the new kid over to my favourite place in the world.

The secluded bench was located behind the dorms, but you have to past the Courtyard in order to enter it. It was also the coolest part of the school, with the shades of extending roof overhead away from the sun.

"This is a beautiful place," I said, lounging onto the chair, sun in my face as I folded my legs. "Isn't it?"

"It's pretty relaxing," he conceded, awkwardly standing.

I patted the space besides me. "Come on," I cooed, "I don't bite. Unless you _like_ it kinky."

He blushed tomato red and I resisted from snickering by biting onto my lip. God, could he be any cuter?

I slipped my hands into the pockets of my mini-skirt and got out a packet of cigarettes. Soon, smoke rings emitted from the ignited tip and the gap between my lips, lazily perched on the bench while the cigarette dwindled between my fingers. My head cleared instantly once the nicotine hit my bloodstream, relaxing my anger from my father's phone call and releasing the right sort of steam sex never gave me. Jason observed how I sucked the cigarette dry, inhaling as much smoke as I could before exhaling.

"Want one?" I raised my eyebrow, offering one from the box.

He shook his head as I've expected. "No, I- I don't smoke."

_Of course, you don't, sweetie._

"But didn't smoking marijuana landed you here in the first place?"

"Ah-yeah, that was just a drunken mistake."

I chuckled, running a hand through my choppy strands and put my legs up onto his lap. "Um-" he seemed rather alarmed at the way my legs were idly reposing on his, but I cut him off with an innocently coy look:

"What?" I shifted my legs, lifting one over the other, "Something wrong?"

He reddened. "Nothing."

Liar, liar, pants on fire- and it's not mine, for once.

I grinned predatorily. "So, Jason?" I utilized the tantalizing effect of the question, fluttering my eyes flirtatiously, "You're such a good boy. Daddy's favourite, never kicked out of school, good grades, not one fuck-up? Not even an affair? And then, it was one joint and you ended up here. Tsk, tsk, what you got to say for yourself?"

"How- how did you find that all out?" he gaped at me like I was an alien species, I laughed and pinched his cheeks as if he was a five-year old child failing to understand adult situations.

"I have my sources."

He positively gulped. Man, I am going to eat him alive. I reduced my cigarette into a measly stub and ground it deep into the sand with one of my boots. I lit another again, resuming to drinking in the toxic air greedily, and he coughed slightly, choking on the noxious smoke.

I got concerned, "Are you okay?" I asked as he clutched his chest, wheezing, "Do I put it out?"

"No-" he coughed a little more, "It's okay. You can continue...eradicating your lungs."

"Oh no, you're one of those people."

"One of those?"

"People, who act like benevolent authoritarian figures. 'Those things kill you, y'know'- the ever-famous line; it fucking annoys me. Like, of course I know they kill me. Why else would I be smoking them?" I ranted, vocally impassioned about the subject, my hands flapping wildly to keep the desert flies out of my heavily glossed lips. "We humans love to self-destruct. It's one of my favorite things to do. Self-destructing is what makes humans feel alive."

Silence dropped between the both of us and he regarded me in shock, unable to believe a smart, yet brutally honest remark had fallen out of my mouth. What? It's the truth. We're all already dying. Dying from the first day since we're born, on that same day, we're inevitably marked for our deaths. These special nicotine sticks just add the red cross to the grave.

"That's...very discerning of you to say so."

I shrugged, "It's true," I gestured to the cigarette, regarding it with a certain admiration. It was a beauty of a killing machine; so insignificant, small and trivial yet it's death toll was racked to an all-time high. "Isn't it? Cigarettes are just one metaphor after another. What kills you make you feel alive? That's one." Clamping my teeth around my cigarette, I looked up at him and wiggled the box full of nicotine wrapped in pretty white sticks. "You sure you don't want any?"

He hesitated and I could imagine the mental debate going on in his head, trying to decide on morals or curiosity. _Come on,_ I coaxed inside my head, _you know you wanna_. "You know what? Sure, I'll take one."

Score.

"That's my boy." I clicked the lighter and flames consumed the nib. The smoke danced and weaved an intricate rom the end, as he held it to his face and tried to inhale the white clouds, only resulting in coughing and spluttering. He winced and grimaced, gasping for breath, the cigarette dangling from the edge of his fingers and threatening to fall onto the desert floor.

"Urgh."

"Yeah," I patted his arm. "That was my first time too. But after a while, it gets better."

He bit his lip and attempted smoking a few more rounds, eventually getting used to the provocative act. It was for sure one of the most disconcerting sight I've ever set my eyes on; an All-American blond teenager with too-big dorky glasses smoking next to me, who looked as if I've just marched out of the set of _the Runaways._

"Hey," he spoke out of the sudden, bringing us out of the silence. The hot arid air blended while with the smoky warmth our cigarettes provided us, the scratchy heat gathering beads of sweat upon my forehead. Though this was my treasured beloved area to be quiet and think, or smoke and drink in peace, the other Aphrodite girls despised this place because it ruined their hair and makeup. "What happened if you get caught? I mean, smoking is against the school rules…and if my dad finds out, he will kill me. Literally kill me."

"Look," I told him, honest-to-God serious, no bullshit- I swear, "the school is meant to straighten you out, while eating the money of our parents. Theoretically, it's supposed to be improving your behaviour, so if the school tells your parents of your misdeeds, well obviously they're not doing a very good job. In reality, the most trouble you'll get in is detention. Or better yet, not get caught at all. That suggestion is always open to everyone. It's either you're professional about the way you break the rules," I opened my arms wide to show off my secluded bench, blowing a thin stream of smoke into the desert air. As if it could get any hotter. "or you don't do it all. But I supposed considering that we're stuck here in this hellhole, we're not professionals on breaking the rules- and it seems it's the only thing this school is good at."

"Okay," he said, although he continued: "What a motto, though. The Wilderness School: Where We Teach You How Not To Break Rules But You Still Do."

"Fruitless endeavours to liberate us," I said darkly, agreeing with him. Up close, I studied the outline of his face. From his chiseled jaw, aristocratic nose, high cheekbones, the scarce stubble scattered across his sharp chin, he looked photo-shopped, if it wasn't for the fresh splash of freckles dotted across his nose. "Freckles," I mumbled.

"Yeah," he grumbled, "A thing with being so damn pale."

"Not for long," I hummed, displaying my tan skin. "You're in Arizona now, Grace. You'll burn just like me."

"I hate my pale skin," he sighed, looking down on his face, "I blush like a tomato, even when I'm not blushing and I bruise like a peach. Also, the freckles..."

"Don't. They're cute," I said, unintentionally slipping. His face split into a shy smile. _God, why are you so fucking adorable? You're like a puppy!_ I wanted to yell at him, finding it difficult not to get worked-up by the intense blue eyes, electrifying and bright, electing and scrutinizing me. Jason was a good boy, but he felt...different. A good boy, but unlike any other good boys, he was tired of being a good boy. He felt...like he was trying to see through me- no one ever did that. I never let them.

I liked the whole geeky thing. It made me want to unravel him and teased him, untied those tight knots and undo them until he's reduce to nothing.

A wan, sly expression played on my features, highlighting the intimacy of the situation, "How about a game?" I inched closer towards him. "Three questions?"

"Um...okay?"

"Where from?"

"San Francisco."

"Favourite food?"

"Um, pizza."

"Dammit!"

"What?" he was alarmed. "What did I do wrong?"

"Pizza," I said vehemently, "How prosaic. You just ruined it, Jason Grace," I dramatically clutched my chest, pantomiming fainting onto the bench, "You just ruined everything."

"Everything?"

"Well, you have o_ne_ question left, okay? Answer it correctly and consider us friends."

I crawled further in to him, closing the distance between our bodies and I stopped when there was nothing short of a few centimetres from our faces, waiting to be pushed into a perfect position of a kiss. "Have you ever kissed anyone?"

"..._no_."

I pressed my lips against his to provide my answer. His eyes widened but I licked my tongue over his bottom lip, ensuring it was okay. He closed his eyes, enveloping his power onto the kiss, his large comforting hands shot to my waist, pulling me closer into him and straddled me onto his lap, my legs swinging around tongue explored mine and I buried my hands into the fluffy curls of his blond head, wanting security as he cupped my face and stroke my cheeks, his nimble fingers drawing circles on my skin, tracing softly. I could've melted into that kiss...he was so _different _from anything I ever had, so gentle, so patient, so courteous, as if frightened he would break me- he wasn't like normal boys who greedily rushed the kiss to get the sex proceeding faster, he was one who waited for the girl to feel comfortable and the mannerism, the thought he spared, stole my breath away.

"What...what was that?" he gasped, breaking apart when he realized what happened and seized control of the situation, ending something that could've led elsewhere.

"That was...wow," my head spinning from the rush and I fiddled with the top button of his shirt, "You sure it's your first?"

"Um, yeah," I bet he was blushing. He was blushing, wasn't he? Pinks highlighted those pale cheeks.

That cute bastard.

I rested my head onto his shoulder, hearing his heart pulsed erratically underneath his body, thumping to the rhythm to my feet tapping the floor. He was exhaling slowly, his cigarette forgotten on the floor, his chest rising and dropping as he looked down at me.

"So...are we…"

I shrugged, "I don't know." I said cryptically and climbed off his lap, directing him a wink. He stared up at me, confused. That was the thing with boys- you always leave them hanging for more. "Maybe. See you, Sparky."Sparky? Seriously? How unoriginal. Whatever. It fits.

And with that, I left.


	3. Troublemaker

**Well hot damn. The encouragement of this have been so amazing OH MY GOSH.  
><strong>

**Thanks so so so much!**

**Late Update: Because of Desire taking up so much time, Hustler have been a slow train so I apologize. However, those who are slowly (torturously) waiting for updates can read that to fill up spare time of waiting for Hustler. If you've already read Desire, then well...there are thousands of brilliant Jasper fics out there. (Won't name names because I don't want anybody to feel alienated)**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to RR.**

Chapter 3

Troublemaker

_Jason_

Wow. _Wow._

wowowowowowowowowow

Calm down, Jason, calm down.

BUT THAT JUST HAPPENED. I CAN'T CALM MY GOD.

Hyperactivity bounced around my head right after she winked at me, gave a little wave and stalked off, her hips swaying seductively, abandoning me while I tried (and failed) to understand what the hell just happened. Did she just- did I just-_no_, this is a dream.

It's a dream. It's a dream. It must be a dream.

I pinched myself and yelped, pain shooting up my arm. This isn't a dream. The reality of the kiss, the softness of her lips crashing upon mine, my face touching her satin skin- so delicate for a girl so tough, the memory of her legs dangling from mine was fading in my mind like water through a cupped hand. Only droplets remain of her touch, the way her fingers gripped my hair- roughly but not to the point untill it hurt, and her strange cinnamon scent- which I find oddly comforting, lingering until the smoke from my cigarette burned my throat.

As an act to promise myself the kiss she gave me was very real, I smoked two more cigarettes from the packet she left on my lap before returning back to my dorm, slightly zombified and glazed, replaying the scene of her kiss over and over again. Loud waves of pop punk was radiating from my dorm when I entered, finding Leo Valdez dancing to an upbeat rhythm, his naked ass swinging from front to the back, my sight instantly blinded by something I wish I could unsee.

_What was seen can never be unseen_, I thought from the infamous cat meme as I averted my eyes with my arm from the searing view of Leo's naked dancing. A shout rose from my throat:

"Leo!"

"Oh, Jason!"

"Cover up, please, I'm begging you! For the sake of all that's rational, put some fucking clothes on!"

"Okay, okay," huffed Leo, grabbing his pants resting on his desk while I peeked through my fingers. Leo had wiggled into a pair of jeans and a faded Ramones t-shirt, enabling myself to sigh in relief and glared at the Hispanic boy.

"Do you scare all of your roommates in similar fashion?"

"Not all," he waved dismissively, "Just most."

"Good to know," I said, looking green as I landed into bed after a tiring day, feeling the tension in my muscles releasing. I craned my head to regard Leo oddly. "Tell me, don't you know Halloween is still a month away?"

"Hey!" pouted Leo, crossing his arms. "I look good naked!"

"...that's not something to take pride on, Leo."

"Oh believe me, we Valdezs take much pride over our naked forms." I choked on the saliva swallowing down my throat in amused laughter while I shook my head at my friend's antics. He was a wonder. A weird, fucked-up wonder, but I realize life in the Wilderness would be a hell lot more depressing without him. Then Leo asked me: "So where you've been?"

I shifted from side to side and tried to think of a perfect excuse, "Oh," I shrugged nonchalantly, "Just around. Trying to get my head around this steel box in a sand pit."

He sniffed the air and he narrowed his eyes, zeroing on me. "Hold on, have you been...smoking?'

I stiffened. _Shit. _"A bit…"

"A bit? You smell like a fucking chimney."

"Okay, I smoke like one or...two…"

I have expected him to become disapproving or admonished me, but instead he grinned. "Cool, where did you get the cigarette?" He sounded envious.

Caught off guard, I blinked- well, that was a surprise. "Um, Piper."

"With Piper?" laughed Leo, wagging his finger at me and I felt the embarrassment roasting my neck, spreading the heat to my face. "Twice in a day? You've been busy."

I downplayed it, shrugging and awkwardly evading Leo's smirk and pesterings- his constant attempts to extract information from my encounter with the dark-haired Native American. "It was nothing," I said hastily, "Just several smokes. That's all that happened."

Leo did not believe one word of it.

"Bullshit, it's Piper Mclean. She can make a trip to the dentist entertaining, for hell's sake."

"She's…something," I definitely agreed.

It was only five hours into this place and everything, all the craziness, was hurling itself towards me at a speed I can't even decipher. It was like a wild ride on a Ferarri, difficult to digest, hard to believe and totally unreal. In less than five hours, I've made out with one of the most prettiest girls I've ever seen, smoke nearly half a packet of cigarettes (and I've never smoke before in my life) and had a naked, weird prankster who danced to Madonna in his spare time as a roommate. The Wilderness School don't really do 'normal' that well, do they?

Soon, Dinner was signalled. The people flowed out of their dorms again, talking and chatting as they went down to the cafeteria for food. It was a Fried-Day Friday cook-out, as Leo had named it, with several people facepalming to the punny nickname, because the cook, Lady Hestia- the 'best hot damn cook there is out there' (as Leo had put it)- had prepared her most famous meal among the teenage crowd: fried chicken, french fries, fried banana fritters, fried waffles, anything greasy and crispy, soaked in oil.

It was all delicious. And a nightmare to anybody weight-conscious.

Following Leo's lead, I sat with Percy and the others, laughed and discussed about tomorrow, the first official weekend of school and what they'll be doing. Hazel suggested going out towards the nearest small town around the desert oasis area and number of offers were thrown across the room. It was then decided they would head out to Quartzize, a truck-stop town, where civilization actually existed for the next thousand mile or so. Filled with chunks of fried chicken in my stomach, I happily returned to my dorm, exhausted after today's events.

Collapsing in bed, I smiled at the ceiling and pulled over the covers, giddy to anticipate my fate here at the Wilderness.

It's definitely going to be one hell of a wild ride.

* * *

><p>The next morning Leo woke me up by throwing his smelly socks onto my face.<p>

Pierce of advice: Leo's unwashed, filthy, reeked of a rotten-fish scent right up your nose on a Saturday morning was _not_ my idea of a healthy breakfast.

It was a bright, early sort of morning; incandescent streams of sunrays filtering into the gaps of the closed window. Yesterday, because of the night setting in, it was unbelievably cold. The desert's clouds created no shelter from the strong gales, battering the windows all night long, that I had to cocoon myself in a nests of sheets to stop myself from chattering. Now the sun had risen, it was scorching the land with a fierce intensity never felt before and within twenty minutes of the sun, my shirt was already slicked with sweat.

I plunged myself into the cold shower, drenching myself with water. I stepped out of the bathroom, feeling refreshed and ready to start the day. Leo and I wolfed down our breakfasts, joined Percy and the gang at the entrance of the campus, where a dusty bus awaited.

"So this is the transport to Quartzsite?" I asked Percy, nose crinkling at the run-down size, whose windows looked broken.

"Yeah," snorted the green-eyed boy, "Homey, eh?"

"Like Grandma's house," I muttered, about to follow Percy's trail towards the bus when I spotted Piper and her clones behind her, talking quite audibly a few yard over, fashionable leather knapsacks slung over their shoulders; their hair combed and kept in place, their makeup professionally perfect and their clothes were of course upgraded to the current season of style. I wasn't an expert on looks, but Jesus did they bring New York's fashion week over to searing Arizona.

"Jason," called out Thalia, right by Annabeth's side. His sister was dressed in the shortest cutoff shorts he had ever seen, accompanied by a black tank pinned with dozen of screaming badges, advocating: **PUNK IS NOT DEAD.**

"Coming over," I yelled back, tearing my gaze from Piper. Being the obedient brother I was, I took the offer of Thalia's hand and retreated into the sweltering interior of the bus, my glimpse of her fading into the rear-view mirror as the bus lurched into movement through the sandy atmosphere.

I'm not going to sugar-coat it for you guys but Quartzite was a dump.

Large RV trucks parked messily at every front of a run-down bar, or convenience store. Flies heaved around our faces and I did my best to swat them away with not much success. My tongue had lost its moisture entirely and I was dying to get a drink. The sun had risen to the azure sky, not a cloud in sight. So the heat was in full-throttle, burning everybody within its proximity. The wind was dry and warm, scratching my face with bits of sand.

"Wow," I remarked.

"I know," beamed Percy, "It's Heaven."

"I was going more for 'burning Hell'. But that's fine too."

"Stop whinging, baby brother," Thalia stepped off the bus, landing on the desert floor with dust flying. "This isn't New York, but it's the closest thing we'll get."

"I'm thirsty."

"So is everybody, little bro," Thalia gestured to a bar- a sturdy, small little shack with the board barely secured onto the top, dark tinted windows, a broken door hanging slightly ajar on the hinges and an overall aura that sent shivers down my back. It looked like some old grubby pub in a Western cowboy movie. "Drinks are the absolute best here."

Thalia was right.

The bar or pub- was called Argus's Hippy Hideaway, owned by a grumpy, stout man with a fat mop of blond hair over his head, blinking blue eyes and a demeanour not meant to be crossed, until his face broke into the friendliest smile I had ever seen on such a frightening man.

"Percy, Annabeth," he grunted in a stereotypical movie deep voice, "You're back! School's in session already?"

Percy bobbed his head in a yes motion, "Yep, it sucks but you're here," Percy flashed him a silly grin and then clapped me on the back, nearly knocking me to the floor and my glasses askew. "We got a new addition, Argus- he's Jason!" I waved awkwardly, not the best at first impressions and Argus gave me a toothy grin and a large cracked cup of beer.

We've bought a round of Argus's best recommended beer and we've wasted chugging the cool, foamy liquid down our throats, quenching our thirsts. I licked my lips, savouring the bittersweet but ice cold taste of the beer when I suddenly realized my mug was gone. Percy beamed at me and raised his mug in response, guzzling down as his girlfriend rolled her eyes and remarked about how he was such a slob and lectured him on how he could've taken it a bit easier.

Within thirty minutes, the throng of buzzing students entered the bar and began ordering, talking along themselves as they occupied the vacant seats. It was clear from the beginning that Argus's Hippy Hideaway was a popular thing. When the bar started to get too crowded, Thalia suggested we checked out the other shops, claiming she was in need of a shopping emergency. Everybody agreed without animosity, exiting the cool interior of Argus's pub and entering Arizona's hell. I was all for shopping but seriously who the fuck can solve the need of a 'shopping emergency' in a truck stop town?

We've passed several tattered thrift shops, browsing through the dusty collections of old Colonial frontier notebooks and journals, which Annabeth expressed ardent enthusiasm for. "Oh my god," she raved to her boyfriend, spilling her coins onto the counter of the old lady. Hazel, Frank and a moody Nico in tow had told them they had to visit the technology store- of which I proceeded to wonder where the _fuck_ was the Apple store- and went off on their own, promising they would all meet back at Argus's place. Leo was sipping on a takeaway mug of Argus's best brews, but the heat didn't bother him strangely. When I fanned myself and wiped away my sweat, Leo basked in the heat, happily noting of how he enjoyed this kind of weather more than anything else in the world as Percy, Annabeth and I stared at him like crazy- well, _I _stared at him as if he was crazy, Percy and Annabeth just shrugged.

We journeyed towards the other side, where most of the restaurants were, and grabbed some lunch at a crappy Mexican place where the taco shells were _soft _but the beef tasted good, nonetheless. I was just weirded out by the soft texture of the tacos. Then, at the end scale of the afternoon, when it got a bit cooler, Thalia and I stopped by one of the clothes shop and I realized Piper and her clones of pretty 'Aphrodite Girls' as the entire school had nicknamed them giggling by one of the more extravagant shops.

By extravagant I meant it was not as tattered and frayed as every shop and the shop had lined their clothing in the sandy display of the windows, with beads of ancient Native American tribal jewelry shown sufficiently in glass cases. A burly, sleepy cleaner moped the window inefficiently, failing to get any kind of sand off.

"Jason!" she waved at me and blew a flirty little kiss with her palm, "How's my Superman feeling?"

I blushed tomato red instantly. She smirked. Damn it. "Um," I mumbled, shoving my hands into my pockets. "Good. A bit hot, you know…"

"Oh, I bet you are," she winked and strode over in cutoff shorts and a black crop top riding up her stomach, exposing her tanned flesh and navel pierced with a black jade stud. A pink lollipop was stuck in between her mouth, her tongue encasing the sweet globe every once in a while.

"Piper," Thalia swore under her breath, addressing the tiny brunette with her classic stink-eye. She plastered on a poker face; a smile, but lacking the genuine warmth she gave me, and filled with sardonic phoniness. "What do you want? We don't want to buy cigs, Pipes. I still have four packs."

"Not selling, Thals," Piper laughed, pulling the lollipop out. It was slick and wet with her saliva. "Just checking out inventory."

"My brother is not a duck for you to shoot targets at, Mclean," said Thalia firmly, grabbing her strict hold on him. Her hand was slippery with sweat, but insistent.

"I'm right here," I defended, wrenching my hand out of her grip. Thalia glared at me, unnaturally patronising. Her eyes screamed_ don't you even dare_, but I ignored her and smiled shyly at Piper. "Hey."

She cocked her head sidewards. "Hullo," she flashed Thalia a nauseatingly smug look. "See? Your brother can greet others nicely. Why can't you?"

"Because you're a bitch," grunted Thalia originally, regaining her composure with the petite brunette. "Look, we just want to be left alone and we really could have a better day without your company. You mind fucking off?"

Normally, anybody would've been pretty offended by the rude comment but instead of getting all hissy, Piper drew her lips into a perfect rosebud pout. "But Jason wants me here," she glanced expectantly at me, and I retreated between the two intense women. "doesn't he?"

"Uh-" Not wanting to be rude, I politely nodded and avoided the acidic look I was instantly confronted with by Thalia, "Sure."

Piper wrapped her lips obscenely around the lollipop, her pink tongue bobbing in and out, and said triumphantly: "Great." She turned to Thalia; whose face was an impassive mask. "Problem, Thals?"

I've observed the frosty, exchange, steaming with tense animosity. My instincts were telling me to bolt, because I can tell something very, very bad was about to happen within two women and being caught in that was as bad as trapped in the rain with the high velocity of getting struck by lightning. "No," retorted Thalia proudly, "Not at all. Why don't you join us?"

Piper clearly won this round. She brightened. "Thanks; you're such a great friend, Thals."

Thalia only marched away in the opposite direction. Piper laughed and linked her arm around mine, "You're going to go calm her down?" she batted her eyelashes innocuously.

"Yeah-" Stumbling once again, "I better go."

* * *

><p>I was encased within the white sheets of my bed, trying to fall asleep to the sound of Leo's snores when Piper had snuck into my room. It was two in the morning and everybody was deep in their rooms, sleeping.<p>

It was sinfully cold, with the strong desert winds blowing across the school's infrastructure and banging the door across the threshold, keeping me awake. I thought of rising from my bed to retrieve maybe my book, but I couldn't be fucked by the effort to stand up.

It was then when I heard an unnatural creak that didn't omit out of my bed and flinched upright, looking frantically around my surroundings while jabbing myself in the eye from trying to put on my glasses blindly. I scrambled out of bed, reaching for the closest form of a weapon- my pillow- and tripped on my way out oh-so-formidably. But I felt a dainty hand pressed on my naked chest saw Piper standing above me, smirking, her eyes glinting an amber colour in the dark as she raised her eyebrows at the sight of me planting myself ass-first onto the ground.

"Little excited, aren't we?" she giggled as she sat on the foot of my bed while I continue to gawk.

"Piper?" I fumbled. "What are you...doing here at two in the morning?"

She shrugged, "Bored," her eyes trailed down my naked abdomen and I realized I was only in boxer shorts. Redness decorated my cheeks. "Blushing once again? God, I love blushers. They're so cute."

"Shut up," I mumbled, crawling into bed. "Well, what do you want?"

"You," she said bluntly, catching me off guard as she curled her head onto my stomach. She grinned at my shock and laughed, her lips grazing my earlobe. "Just joking, you cutie."

"Am I dreaming?"

She pinched my buttcheeks and I yelped and jumped, causing Leo to stir. "Nope," she popped the 'p'.

I rubbed my eyes with the back of my fists, ridding my eyes of the receding haze of sleep. "So…?" I offered as she traced circles onto my bare chest. She was in nothing but tiny boy shorts, exposing her milky legs and a simple black tank. Her hair kept in a messy knot and her face was free of her makeup. I was surprised by how fresh-faced she was; though she looked sexy and hot with her heavy eyeliner and red lipstick, she looked even better- sweet and real- without it. Normally, girls who wore lots of makeup didn't look as well as they did with it, but Piper was different. I instantly preferred her without her intense makeup….she seemed almost real.

"Let's go for a drink and some food," she held up a bottle of alcohol.

I pushed my floppy blonde hair out of my face. "What?" I whisper-shouted.

"Food," she repeated, "Like a burger. I'm fucking starving."

"At-at this time? We- we have curfew," I said sternly. "We'll get caught."

She picked up a discarded shirt lying by the floor and tossed it to me. "That should do," she decided firmly. I stood rigid, unmoving as she started towards the door and twisted it open, then turned around. "Come on."

"I-" Words stuck in my throat. Leo snored, ruining the dramatic effect.

"Don't be such a goody-two shoes."

"We shouldn't," I responded fiercely, forming some what of a stance against her. She seemed taken aback I've made such a remark. Nonplussed, she blinked and recoiled, reverting to a different approach. She slinked back into my room, her silhouette sliding behind her as a slow, seductive grin inhabited her face, gracing her features in a playful manner. "Never snuck out before," she laughed slightly, throwing her head back, "haven't you? Poor little lamb. You'll see what you're missing out on."

She pulled on my arm, leading me towards the door. "What if we get caught?" I gulped at her.

She softened at the fear in my voice, but she tilted her head and blew me a kiss as the cold, desert air washed upon our bare skin through the gap of our door. "It's okay," she promised with certainty, "I put the pro in professional at this."

* * *

><p><strong>Reviews are like kissing baes so keep them coming.<br>**

**MWAH! **


	4. Blank Space

**Yeah. Don't own shit.**

Chapter 4

Blank Space

Piper

I pushed the door of Jason's dorm room. It was two in the morning and everybody was asleep. His door wouldn't budge, so I pushed it harder and twisted the handle once more until I realized he or Leo must've locked it before going to bed. I sighed and reached for a bobby pin that was barely maintaining my hair intact. I've been single-handledly taught by the Stolls how to perfect the art of lock-picking, so naturally it only needed ten seconds for the pin to work it's magic and unlock the door.

I crept in, skillfully sliding into the room without so much of a peep, but then I accidentally bumped into his study chair and caused a squeak to echo around the room. He frantically scrimmaged out of bed and fell unceremoniously onto his cute little butt on the way out. I stifled a laugh, closing my mouth with a hand and sashayed over with the bottle of wine.

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><p>"Shh," I whispered, softer than a single string of a harp but it still bounced a bit off the hallways, "Tip toe across the corridors. Once you've reached the stairs, you can breathe. Nobody can really hear you there." An uneasy Jason shifted behind me and I smiled confidently at him, to show my utmost confidence. "I've done this before and you're with me, big boy," I winked. "You'll be just peachy."<p>

"S-sure," he said shyly, clasping my hand for reassurance and my heart ached for him at the merest gesture. He was such a cutie, a complete social disaster- sure, but a cutie, in an awkward turtle way. Of course, he looked much better than most awkward turtles but still. He was adorable and so unsure, filled with such uncertainty, looking at me with those beautiful storms of eyes for guidance. Well, that would change soon. A little more of the Piper-machine and I'll have his backbone as rigid as steel in no time; but then I'll have to let him go. It made me more nostalgic than it should. It broke my heart, but at the same time I wanted to laugh hysterically. People were ought to do that more: when you were at your lowest and you felt like bawling your fucking eyes out, the best medicine was to laugh your head off.

But the point was that love was a game. It depended on how long he would want to play.

I took the lead and beamed a light onto the corridor from my phone so I knew where I was going. We strode silently down the stairs, as quiet as mouses as we passed the other dorms. Jason's grip tightened on mine throughout the eerie hallways- it was almost creepy as we crossed over the large open foyer, which led to the different wings of classrooms and other amenities. In the dark, the school was different, unrecognizable even. It was empty, hollow, devoid of the usual happiness that filled the spaces with students milling in and out.

My expertise with sneaking out came from the numerous times I've snuck out of my house to escape from my father and his Hollywood blood-sucking snakes. Whenever my Dad brought home another of his groupies home, I would climb out of the window and crawl up the pipe, then sit on the ceiling and stare at the stars all night long. I would number them across the skies, from the end of the horizon to another, and give them names. Sometimes, I throw in a bottle of vodka and a packet of Malboro Lights for good measure.

"Come on," I whispered, tip-toeing my way towards the dining room. "Hurry!"

With bare feet, I padded down the stairs which guided us towards the familiar large room where the dining tables had been packed with the chairs stacked onto the surface. There was a ray of fluorescent light gleaming from the kitchen, a sign that Miss Hestia was very well awake, probably preparing for tomorrow's breakfast.

I entered the kitchen, dragging Jason along with me. Miss Hestia jerked back, scared out of her wits, and caused the box of milk cartons to jostle out of her hands and fell onto the floor. "Piper!" she yelped, hand over her heaving chest. She picked up the milk cartons and regarded me oddly. "What are you doing here at such a late time?"

I grinned childishly, "You know, just planning to chill.." And I gestured to Jason by placing my head on his shoulder, "And I brought a friend."

Miss Hestia's warmth was radiant enough to melt through metal and she was often so kind, unlike the rest of the world. Whenever I couldn't sleep, I would walk down here and accompany Miss Hestia as she tidied the kitchen and prepared food for tomorrow. She would give me either fresh leftovers from today's meals or her stash of ice cream on the last shelf of the freezer while I humoured her during our chats.

Miss Hestia was something I didn't like to share with my other friends because they wouldn't understand why I would sneak out in the middle of the night to meet the cafeteria woman and Drew wouldn't hesitate to make cruel remarks the minute she caught wind of this. Miss Hestia was almost like a mother to me in this school, without the nagging. She saw the real Piper Mclean, underneath the sheds of toughness and ambiguity, she saw through me and she had never nagged me to change, like a real mother would. She knew I enjoyed who I am for the time being and she didn't see the need for a straightening out, or whatever my father intended to happen to me while I resided in this school. She was something for me to hold on to and somehow, I didn't know why, but I felt the strangest urge that only someone like Jason would comprehend my actions.

I could read him like a magazine. He lacked confidence and he slumped whenever he walked; hanging his low, avoiding eye contact. He was a wallflower while I was the exact opposite. He was my version of a misfit toy.

"So what are we going to do here?"

I leapt onto the kitchen's steel counter top. "Have a little picnic," I looked at Hestia, who had disappeared into the large steel fridge. "Hey, Miss Hestia, do you have any leftover food?"

"Of course," said Miss Hestia kindly, "Would you like some?"

I grinned like a chesire cat. "Yes, please," I licked my lips, "I'm starving and really thirsty," I shook the wine bottle in front of Jason's face. Popping the cork, I offered him the first swig. "Come on, don't be shy."

Fearfully, he'd taken a sip. "Ooh," he said, licking his lip after his first taste. "I like this. It's kind of sweet and different. What is it?"

"Strawberry champagne," I offered him proudly, showcasing my knowledge. "It's the fucking best."

"Mmm," he murmured in agreement, drinking small amounts of the beverage. He recoiled at the bittersweet, metallic taste, but then Hestia arrived once again and entered through the doors, smiling with two plates of leftover fries and fried fish fingers.

"There you go," said Hestia, handing me the plates. "Enjoy, but not too much," she yawned and patted my folded legs, "Remember to switch the lights off once you've gone back, okay?"

I nodded, "I will, Miss Hestia." Miss Hestia, being the sweetest ever, left us on our own and we were abandoned within the silence shared between Jason and I. For several moments, we just kept drinking the wine and didn't say anything. I liked it. Sometimes, silence was necessary in terms of conversation. Relationships can't singularly rely on words.

"So," I said teasingly, "Now that we're all alone…"

His eyes widened and a nervous laugh escaped him. I giggled along. I didn't know why I like him so much; I mean, yeah he's good-looking but so were two hundred other boys confined within this school. He's adorable but so were everybody else. Maybe I liked him because he considered me properly, as if I was someone with feelings rather than a whore to be lugged around. I just hoped he wouldn't get any ideas along the spectrum of forever and shit, because the sickening thought of marriage and babies was enough to trigger a gag reflex. Whatever this was, as I linked my fingers between Jason, it wasn't built to last. It was built to fall apart.

Heading over to his place, inviting Jason on my midnight detours, my intentions were anything but good. I wanted to open his eyes into my spectacular world of bad behaviours and I could show him incredible things but I had to admit- it'd be a challenge. Judging from the way he obeyed Thalia from every word, held himself with his head down and shoulders sagged and possessed no self-confidence whatsoever, I had lots of work on my plate. He was even worse than Lacy when she first started out.

Oh, dotting, little Lacy. She was cute and innocent, with braces attached to her teeth and her blonde hair bounded into twin pigtails. She reminded me of a little sister I never had. She was often put aside, she had told me, by her parents. Nobody looked at her, nobody spared her an ounce of attention, so she decided to make things happen for herself. Naturally, all those things were illegal- which was the reason of how she ended up here in the Wilderness. But nonetheless, she was as shy and timid as a mouse caught under a trap. I felt sorry for her. I empathized. I knew what it was like to be a misfit toy and I taught her it was better to be a misfit toy- true to yourself- rather than a plastic, shiny Barbie Doll. I've taught her how to threw big punches for a chick, smoke weed, handle a date-rape situation, chug down tequila shots and everything she needed to know about the bad and the ugly out there. Now she was strong and she fought her own battles; it almost softened me with nostalgia to remember the girl cowering behind Drew and her reign of terror last year.

I noticed Jason's shirt- a faded old t-shirt with the quote:_ Everybody's youth is a dream; a form of chemical madness_. "Preach it," I laughed, swirling my wine.

"Huh?" he was confused.

"Your shirt. I like it."

"Aha," he made that vague, coughy loud sound again. Nervous and shy, as always. "Yeah, it's ah- a quote from my favourite author."

"Ooh, a boy who reads? That explains the aura of sophistication."

He blushed, cheeks tinged cherry red. "Yeah," he said tentatively, as if he was afraid I might smacked him as nerd for his supreme love for books or something.

"It's spectacular," I said, giving him that boost of confidence.

He scratched the back of his head anxiously, the wine bottle I handed towards him forgotten. "Really?"

"Yep. It's hard to find people who actually reads nowadays," I smiled fondly at him. "Most people spend their times on social media, watching comically bad television shows."

He laughed- genuinely too. Humour sparkling in his eyes and enthusiasm invigorated in his upright body posture. "That's true."

"What's the author name?" I prodded at the shirt.

"Scott F. Fitzgerald."

"Isn't he the guy that, like, went crazy or something?"

"Sent to an asylum," he mused and I felt him eased up, growing more confident with every word. But it was a good type of confidence, where he found reassurance instead of arrogance. A kind confidence where he knew what to say and the words just right out of his mouth. I listened while he talked, his voice soft-spoken. He was in his zone now. "He was an amazing writer- and not only for the Great Gatsby. To me, my favourite was The Beautiful and the Damned, even if the Great Gatsby was the most popular and advertised. My father like to argue how his ideals were fanatical, but sometimes fanatical is a little of what we need in this world."

"Amen to that." I toasted a drink to his words, swallowing the warm fizzy liquid. He smiled more often too; and it was bright enough to light up my world. "So is that what you want? To be a writer?"

He cowered once again, hesitant to tell the truth as if he was afraid I might laugh at his ambition. I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, levelling my gaze to collide with his and silently telling him it was alright. "Yeah," he nodded, "I would like to, but-" There was that awkward laugh again- "-I don't know."

"It's good you still have dreams," I admired longingly; couldn't help but envy his innocence. Man, this kid was breaking my heart. Dreams? Heroes? I'd quit thinking 'bout that shit way before I hit the pubes. "Mine's dead."

"Ridiculous," he admonished, "You're too young to be that cynical."

"I'm a teenager," I reminded him, "I'm never too young to be cynical."

"It's still so stupid."

"You're such a dreamer," I shook my head. "Even if I had a dream, how can a fuck-up like me ever achieve it?" I gave a bitter laugh, finishing the last of the wine and throwing it across the bin, shattering the glass into pieces. The noise echoed over the resonating thin walls. "I'm a fuck up, remember?"

"No you're not," he was adamant on telling me.

"Hmm," I mumbled evasively, "Do you think a fuck-up like you can achieve it? I mean, you are less of a fuck up than I am…"

"Probably not. Dad wants me to be like a lawyer or something."

"Screw him," I said dismissively, putting my head on his shoulder. He didn't try to wrap an arm around me. Probably too shy, I registered. "You do what you want," I punched him in the arm and he rubbed it, yelping when my fist contacted his flesh. "Nobody can tell you otherwise."

"He's my dad."

"So?" I demanded. "Don't let him push you around! Grow a fucking backbone." I pushed the wine into his hands and clambered onto my feet, standing on the metal kitchen table, my head nearly colliding into the swinging low lights and ceiling.

"What are you doing?" hissed Jason, eyes alarmed and body in position to bolt. "We could-"

"Take a drink and stand up," I ordered, my words slurring slightly and my enunciation was off. The alcohol buzz was only starting to settle in and I was deterring off the rails. He was reluctant to stand up, so I pulled him by the hand and forced him on his feet. "'Kay, good. Now, you say this with me. Yell it out, okay? 'STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO FUCKING DO, DAD.' Yell it out! Yell it until your throat breaks!"

"But-" he went cross-eyed. "What if we get in trouble? What if the school catches us? My dad will kill me."

I sighed, massaging my temples with my fingers. "Jason, Jason, Jason," I tutted. "This is the Wilderness, a place for fuck-ups like you and me. The school's supposed to teach you how not to be a fuck-up, and if they tell your parents about you fucking up, it's obviously not working and your parents won't be continuing paying for this. Therefore, we'll be in trouble but they won't tell our parents that you're fucking up more than you already should." I concluded cheerily, as if it justified everything. "So get your slimy ass up and start yellin', dude."

He sighed, eyeing me from his folded-legs position.

"Stop telling me what to do, dad."

"That was pathetic. Louder, and with the swear words."

"But…" Irresolution halted his decisions but I was insistent.

"With the swear words!"

"Do I really have to?"

"Yes!" I said boisterously, "You do!"

"Fine," he sighed, and rose his voice in volume: "Stop telling me what to fucking do, Dad!"

"Again! Louder."

"STOP TELLING ME WHAT TO FUCKING DO, DAD!"

"Yeah!" I yelled in agreement and high-fived him, collapsing into a mass of laughter. "You fucking said it, man!" I wrapped my arms around him into a hug, as we stood high and inebriated on the kitchen steel tables, and our faces were dangerously inches apart, nose grazing as I grinned at him, teeth showing through the gap of pink.

Without thinking, I rotated my head to fit his mouth and kissed him, coiling my arms around his neck. I kissed him until it was blue and black, with stars dancing in my eyes, alcohol buzzing in our veins, and infinity waiting to swallow us up. I kissed him, letting him believe we were built to fix ourselves when we were meant to fall apart.

The next morning I woke up to Miss Hestia shaking me on the arm. I've realized Jason and I had curled our bodies together on the metal kitchen table. Now get your head our gutter- we didn't have sex. We just slept at the same place, I noticed as Miss Hestia prodded Jason in the arm as well, earning a moan, his arms created a sense of protection by the way they encompassed around me. I didn't know what to be at the most surprised at- the fact that we hadn't had sex yet, or the fact that he hadn't even thought about initiating sex yet.

Most guys usually jumped at the chance. But I guessed Jason wasn't like most guys. _No_, I thought as my finger traced circles onto his chest exposed by his V-neck, most definitely not. Jason was the most peculiar. I traced circles and stars, flowers even. But not hearts. Never hearts. Hearts were taboos. I felt the steadied, soft thrum of his heartbeat repeatedly drumming beneath his chest, his breathing deep and calm. Even though he was on the nerdy side, Jason was actually quite athletic. He wasn't excessively muscular, but he wasn't weedy either- he was a medium, with muscles at all the right places.

_Must have passed out_, I groggily assumed as I staggered onto my feet, yawning. "Jason," I whispered into his ear, shaking his arm. "Wake up, sexy."

"Hmm?" his eyes fluttered and blue eyes gazed hazily at me as sleep receded slowly from his brain. "P-piper?"

"That's right," I said, smirking. "Sleep well?"

He rubbed his stiff neck, "Not really."

I laughed, "Yep, me too. But I had fun. Come on, let's get back before our roommates start panicking."

"Okay."

It was only the crack of dawn and it was a good ole' Sunday, so nobody in their right mind was awake yet. I've led him towards his dorm and bid him goodbye by kissing him lightly on his cheek, my lips rubbing against his skin. As we parted, I saw a mane of black hair flashing at the corner of my eye from a small gap of a dorm room door. Thalia, I realized at the familiarity of the choppy layered hair but I pushed it out of my mind as I set a smile on my face and gave him a kiss on the lips, the taste of strawberry wine sizzling as a reminder of our lips.

And then we've bid each other goodbye.

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><p><strong>Announcement: I might be, um, 'quiting' Fanfiction. <strong>

**MIGHT. JUST MIGHT. I mean, I've been writing on here since...2011. And if you've paid attention to any of my notes, I've mentioned I'm writing a book and several originals on Figment and Wattpad. With my harder school years approaching, I wanted to prioritize my writing and I was trying to choose between writing originals and fanfiction. I might not completely give up and let cobwebs to infiltrate this site but I doubt I'll be able to update as often as I can. Since it's my holidays, I'll try my best to write more than often so I can get most of the plots I've planned up and running. This goes for Desire as well.**

**I hope you guys understand.**

**Please review!**


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